Stamping-machine



M. FOGDE AND L. P. SOUTHWICK.

STAMPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 21, IsIIII.

l .364,741 y Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

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C14/Lemmi 5 M. FOGDE AND L. P. souTHwl'cK. Y STAMPING MACHINE. APPLICATIONFILED NOV.27y 1918.

1,364,741. Patented Jan. 4,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@ttor/MM35 j UNITED STATES' VPATENT OFFICE.

MATHIAS FOGDE AND LAW'RENCE P. SOUTHVICK, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A

CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

STAMPINGr-MACHIN E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, MATHIAs Fooien, a Russian subject, and LAWRENCE P. SOUTH- wrox, a citizen of the United States, both residents of Richmond, county of Henrico, and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stamping-- dated October 23, 1917, which will be `re p ferred to further in the specification of our improvements to follow.

More especially our present improvements` relate to improved means for smoothing stamps evenly around the box ends after the stamps have been applied to the boxes, our object being the provision of mechanism which will accomplish this operation in an effective and eflicient manner and which will do away with the necessity of brushes and other parts likely to collect the particles of glue and become gummed or otherwise affected in such manner as to improperly function.

Our present improvements include further a discharge arrangement and a discharge table, the structure of which is such as to bring about an arrangement adapting the boxes for movement directly into the cartons in which they are usually packed, without rearrangement.

These obj ects and the improvements of the present invention will be better understood from the following description thereof, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, and wherein- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of our machine, showing certain of the present improvements,

Fifr. 2 is a sectional side View of the parts seen 1n Fig. 1, and

F ig. 3 is a plan view partly broken away`I of the discharge frame.

Referring now to these figures, the upper portion of the frame of our machine appears in part at 10, with a forward depending bearing bracket 11 for the forward end of a driving shaft 12 having fast and loose pulleys as seen at 13 in Fig. 2, and which is the main driving shaft of the machine described and claimed in our patent above referred to.

Along the forward portion of the frame 10 as in our patent above referred to, the cigarette boxes 14 are fed transversely in rows, and in edgewise relation, upon an endless feed belt, a portion of which appears at 15, this belt being intermittently actuated by any suitable means as for instance thev means illustrated in our patent.

At the left hand side of the frame, adjacent which the boxes 14 are finally discharged, the belt 15 passes around a pulley 16 and upon the shaft 12 at its forward end is secured a cam 17 within the cam groove 18 of which extends a roller 19 projecting laterally from one end of the lever 20 which is fulcrumed at 21 upon the bearing at the lower end of a bracket 22 secured at its upper end upon the frame 10.

Upon the upper portion of the frame 10 between the cam 17 and the pulley 16 of the belt 15, is the station to which rows of boxes are directly fed from the stamp applying mechanism (not herein shown) and of any suitable character, as for instance that shown in our patent above referred to. The boxes arrive at the station above referred to for the smoothing down of the applied stamps snugly around one end of the boxes as is usual.

At one side of the station just referred to where the stamps are smoothed down upon the boxes, is disposed an elongated upright discharge plate 23 having a series of recesses 24 along its upper portion opposite the several boxes of a series of boxes positioned at the station referred to. member is movable forwardly and rearwardly upon the upper portion of the frame 10 and is actuated through a forwardly projecting shaft 25, and certain connections to be presently described, in a rearward direction at the end of each stamp smoothing operation in order to shift the entire row of stamped boxes rearwardly.v

Lever 20 connects by a link 26 with the lower end of a vertically movable slide bar 27 shiftable in guides 28, and to the upper end of which slide bar above the upper surface of the frame 10, is secured the intermediate portion of a U-shaped frame 29 having its angular ends 30 projecting rearwardly This discharge and provided with bearings 31 for the ends of a pair of parallel shafts 32 and 33, seen in Fig. 2, these shafts extending above the row of boxes positioned adjacent the discharge member 23 as above described, and at opposite sides of the vertical plane of the row of boxes so disposed.

The shafts 32 and 33 are provided at equidistantly spaced points therealong with depending and opposing spring fingers 34 and 35; and in the normal position of the shafts, and when frame 29 moves downwardly with the slide bar 27, the fingers 34 and 35 are in vertical positions and are so spaced that their lower curved ends 36 will slide downwardly upon the sides of the boxes 14, whereby to smooth down the ends of the revenue stamps, already placed in position upon the boxes, into firm, even and uniform Contact with the boxes. For this purpose the lower portions of the spring ngers 35 are movable downwardly into the recesses 24 of the discharge member or head 33, and these iingers as well as the ngers 34 may be vertically slotted from their lower ends so that they may more readily yield to slight inequalities in the shape of the boxes and more effectively operate to the desired end irrespective of whether or not the stamps have been applied exactly across the center of the boxes.

Each of the shafts 32 and 33 is further more provided in its length with an upstanding pin 37, and these pins are connected by a spring 38 which tends to rock the two shafts to throw the spring lingers 34 and 35 away from one another, the shafts having lugs 39 and 40 projecting toward one another of which the lug 39 has its inner portion slotted as at 41, and the lug 40 has a laterally projecting pin 42 which enters the slot of the lug 39 so as to equalize any rotative movements of the two shafts.

The lug 40 is moreover provided at the outer side of the shaft 33, lwith a sloping projection 43 terminating in an abrupt shoulder engaged during downward travel of the frame 29, by means of a horizontally movable latch member 44, which is spring actuated, as seen in Fig. 2 and slides in a guide 45 carried by the slide bar 27, this latch member having a laterally projecting roller 46 for a purpose that will be presently described.

Upstanding from one of the guides 28 of the slide bar 27 is a stationary controlling bar 47 whose upper inwardly offset portion as seen in Fig. 2, is provided at one side with a cam 48 engageable with the roller 46 above mentioned when the slide bar 27 is at its lowermost point of travel, so as to shift the latch 44 forwardly in its guides 45 and out of engagement with the shouldered projection 43. This action takes place when the spring arms 34 and 35 have smoothed ends of the applied stamps downwardly upon the sides of the boxes 14, and results in freeing the shafts 32 and 33 for movement under tension of the springs 38 so as to shift the spring arms 34 and 35 away from one another and out of contact with the boxes 14.

Thus when the slide bar 27 and frame 29 start upon their upward travel the spring fingers 34 and 35 are entirely out of contact with the stamped boxes, and the parts continue in this position until the slide bar 27 and frame 29 approach the limit of their upward travel.

it its upper end the controlling arm 47 has a laterally extending lug 49, and the adjacent shaft 33 is provided with a depending spring arm 50, the lower portion of which is thrust outwardly against the controlling arm 47 when the spring fingers 34 and 35 are separated it is above described, so that this spring arm 50 slides upwardly along the controlling bar 47 during upward travel of the parts, and upon engagement with the lug 49 at the upper end of the controlling' bar 47, forces rotation of shaft 33 and consequently the shaft 32, until the shoulder projection 43 is again brought beneath the latch 44, at which time the latch is forced by its spring into engaged position and the parts are again locked as in the position shown in Fig. 2 for downward travel and operative movement of the stamp pressing fingers 34 and 35.

Adjacent its lower end the vertical slide bar 27 has a forwardly projecting bracket 51, at the forward end of which is a roller 52 which works in a slot 53 in the lower portion of a lever 54 intermediately fulcrumed at 55 upon a bracket 56 projecting -forwardly from the adjacent portion of the frame 10. The upper end of this lever 54 is pivotally connected by a link 57 with the forwardly projecting shaft 25' of the discharge head 23 and, by reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the upper portion of the slot of this lever inclines rearwardly so that, as the slide bar 27 moves vertically, the roller 52 acts as a cam within the upper inclined portion of the slot 53 to shift the lower portion of lever 54 forwardly, throwing its upward portion rearwardly and forcing shaft 25 with the discharge head 23 in a rearward direction. This discharge head 23, positioned forwardly of the row of boxes whose stamps have been pressed smoothly and tightly thereon during downward operative movement of the spring arms 34 and 35, acts to shift the entire row of boxes rearwardly from the position shown in Fig. 2, and laterally off of the feed belt 15, after the series of spring fingers 34 and 35 have been shifted vertically in spreadsapart relation.

Opposite the station above described at which the stamps are smoothed downwardly the boxes, the' ,fran-1e- '10 has a discharge frame generally indicated at 58 whose forward or inner portion, between its sidewalls 59 and 60 as seen in Fig. 3, is of the full 'width of the row of alined boxes thrust ward end andthe boxes'at the rear end of I cigarette boxes. The above result is brought about 'by `'the particular' construction of the discharge frame which, from a point adjacent its forwardjend, has separate chutes 6l and 62 as seenfjifn' F ig, A3,' veach of which curves in arearwarddirectiontoward the longitudinal'axisof the'frame,the base 63 of they discharge chute 61" sloping down'- wardly at a point adjacent the forward end of said frame,- to a horizontal level sufiiciently below the levelf of the base 64 of the box chute 62, which latter. curves upwardly, asseen in Fig. 2, atl the same point the base 63 of the-discharge'chute 6l curves, to accommodate one-half of the b'oxes forced into the forward and widestv end of the discharge frame. The base'. 64, of the box chute 62 receives the other half of the boxes and thus, by virtue of the slope and curvature of the bases 63 and 64, one-halfofeach row of boxes is graduallybrought to a plane alined above the otherhalf of theA row and arrives in this position at the rear and narrowest end of the discharge frame for the purpose previously described.

In general, the mechanism above described for smoothing stamps upon the box ends, is utilized in connection with the machine of our former patent above referred to and in lieu of the series of rotating brushes illustrated in the patent, the mechanism of the present application eliminating all danger of the gumming up of the parts from a gradual collection of glue, and providing for more eifective operation by means which are less complicated, less expensive, and more durable than the parts of the patent for the same purpose.

In our present application the discharge frame 58 is entirely new and has no equivalent in our patent above referred to, its presence facilitating the loading of the cigarette boxes into cartons in which they are commonly sold to retailers, for the reasons previously set forth.

I claim:

l. In a machine of the character described the 'combination of a frame upon which boxes are fed in alined series, with stamps applied thereon, mechanism for smoothing the applied stamps on the boxes including two series of spring arms shiftable vertically with 'respect to the boxes, means for holding the said arms in operative position during their downward movement upon the boxes, means for shifting thev arms in relatively opposite directions and out ofl contact with the* boxes at the end of their downward movement, and means for returning the arms to normal position at a point in their travel above the boxes.

2. In a machine of the character described the combination with means for supporting a row of boxes having stamps applied thereto, of a vertically movable frame, and means carried by said frame for movement downwardly onto the boxes to smooth the stamps thereon, said means including a plurality of spring box engaging fingers arranged in parallel series shiftable to vary the normal distance between the members of one series and the corresponding members of the other series.

3. In a machine of the character described the combination with means for supporting ally toward and away from the other, and

shafts rotatable in the said frame and to which the lingers are attached.

4. In a device of the character described, a main frame for supporting boxes in rows, a vertically shiftable slide bar, a vertically shiftable frame secured to the slide bar and having angular ends provided with bearings, parallel shafts j ournaled in said bearings, connections between the shafts constraining the same to the uniform rotative movement, series of depending spring fingers carried by the said shafts for movement into and out of engagement with the boxes supported by the main frame, a spring connecting portions of said shafts for rotating the same, a latch, mechanism normally holding said shafts against rotation, means for releasing said latch mechanism during vertical movement of the slide bar to permit the partial rotation of the said shafts and means also acting during vertical movement of the slide bar for rotating the shafts back to latched position.

5. In a device of the character described a main frame, a driving shaft disposed longitudinally of said frame, a cam mounted on said shaft, guides carried by the main frame, a vertically shiftable slide bar movable in said guides, a lever having connection at one end with the cam and at its opposite end with said' slide bar to bring about vertical movement of the latter, a frame secured to the upper portion of the slide bar above the main frame, a

pair of shafts journaled in spaced parallel relation within the latter frame, a series of spaced depending spring fingers carried by the said shafts and in opposing relation, means engaging one of the shafts to prevent rotation thereof and maintaining the spring fingers in operative position, connections between the shafts for constraining the same to uniform rotative movement, means for releasing said shaft holding means when the slide bar is at the lower portion of its travel, a spring connecting the shafts to rock the same when released and shifting the spring lingers away from one another into inoperative position, and means for rotating the shafts against tension of said spring to retain the spring fingers to operative position at the upper portion of the travel of the slide bar.

6. In a machine of the character described the combination with a main frame for supporting boxes in rows, a discharge member shiftable on the said frame to engage and move an entire row of boxes, a vertically shiftable mechanism movable into and out of engagement with boxes to smooth stamps thereon, means for moving said mechanism, and connections between the said mechanism and the discharge member for actuating the latter when the stamp smoothing mechanism moves above the row of boxes.

7 In a machine of the character described the combination of box supporting means forsupporting boxes having stamps applied thereto, a vertically shiftable mechanism movable into and out of engagement with the boxes for smoothing the applied stamps thereon, and a laterally shiftable discharge member engaging the series of boxes for simultaneously moving the series out of the range of the stamp smoothing mechanism, said discharge member being connected to the said mechanism, to operate while the mechanism is out of engagement with the boxes.

8. In a machine of the character described, reciprocating opposed members for smoothing stamps on an article, resilient means for holding said members in inoperative position, and means for maintaining said members in operative position during the inward movement of the members releasable to permit said members to return to inoperative position through the action of said resilient means during the outward movement thereof.

9. In a machine of the character described, a pair of reciprocating parallel rock shafts carrying opposed stamp-smoothing fingers, resilient means for holding the rock shafts with the fingers in inoperative position, and means for rocking said shafts during the inward active motion thereof to hold said fingers in operative position.

MATHIAS FOGDE. LAWRENCE P. SOUTI-IWICK.

Witnesses:

GREY CARTER, JOHN E. KASTELBERG. 

